I hope I am not hijacking this thread; would it be possible to enable Intel’s PTT in the modded BIOS/ME firmware for this board (or other Asus Z170)?
Currently it says Present/Disabled as per MEInfo - and have been trying to enable it with no avail.
Perhaps other people that may want to use BitLocker may find it useful if PTT were enabled by default? I certainly would.
(I guess I could source the discrete TPM2.0 mini-board but since PTT is in the firmware it’s strange that ASUS does not enable it like Gigabyte does)
Many thanks!
@cam234
First of all welcome at the Forum!
Could you please tell me which Gigabyte Board you are talking about and which asus board you have, so I can compare the Settings in the ME Firmware?
I haven’t tested if you can Change the PTT Settings without bricking something. I think if your ME descriptors are unlocked or you have a SPI Programmer we could give it a try and revert everything if something goes wrong.
But if your descriptors are locked I don’t think that we can Change the Settings and make it work.
Default Settings in Ranger VIII:
1
2
3
4
2
3
4
Intel PTT initial power-up state: Disabled
Intel PTT Supported: Yes
Intel PTT Supported [FPF] :Yes
Intel PTT RTC Clear Detection: Enabled
Thank you for the friendly reply 
I have not got a Gigabyte Z170 board but on the ASUS forums talking about TPM support, people say that Gigabyte allow enable/disable PTT in the BIOS (in addition to dedicated TPM socket). I will download the latest BIOS to attempt to extract ME firmware and check for you?
I do have an older Lenovo X1 Carbon v2 Haswell/ME9.5 and it has both dedicated TPM1.2 and ME TPM2.0 you can switch in the BIOS. I read that PTT is included since ME9.5 thus anything running it or higher should technically be able to have PTT and thus a TPM2.0 for BitLocker.
Would you be able to just extract current ME firmware and just switch PTT in PITC, save modified ME and flash back? Thus not update to a newer ME/copy settings - just change that one setting?
There seems various places for PTT, Strap 10 seems disabled but other enabled. I have not managed to flashed modified ME with PTT enabled everywhere and thus MEInfo to show Enabled.
I know some people are not happy with TPM, but having ran SSD SEDs with hardware-BitLocker in laptops with no problems I’d rather have the same on my desktops?
Thanks!
@cam234
I just checked the ME Firmware in the Latest Bios for the Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming G1 and it has the same Settings I mentioned in my prevoius post.
The Gigabyte BIOS has an Option to enable or disable " Intel Platform Trust Technology (PTT)"
I havent found that Option in the Asus Ranger VIII Bios.
Orsox - sorry I did not explain correctly
The Gigabyte BIOS has that option and I guess it enables the PTT if that option is set but PTT is not enabled automatically at boot; my idea is to change the strap in ASUS for PTT to be automatically enabled at boot thus requiring no command from BIOS to enable:
Intel PTT initial power-up state: Disabled
We need to change the strap/setting in ASUS to be Enabled on boot thus no need for setting/command to enable as it would come up enabled (hopefully):
Intel PTT initial power-up state: Enabled
Does that make sense?
@ cam234:
Yes it can be done, do you have an unlocked Flash Descriptor or a programmer because you will need read/write access to the ME region for such a task. Run Flash Programming Tool with command fptw -d spi.bin. Do you see a cpu access error or not?
I have a queation 
What are benefits with modded bios
Wil that inprove speed of system or something like that
THanks!
Hello
I need some help I can not boot from a hyper m.2 x4 mini card with 950 with raid toggled in bios i want to make raid 0 with a 950 directly on the bord, I saw a guide but I wasn’t unable to make raid, will this modded bios help me? maximus viii ranger
Thanks All
@plutomaniac
Firstly, I would like to thank you for all your work on this site and all the ME firmware/tools!
Unfortunately the descriptors are locked:
Reading HSFSTS register… Flash Descriptor: Valid
— Flash Devices Found —
W25Q128BV ID:0xEF4018 Size: 16384KB (131072Kb)
Error 318: The host CPU does not have read access to the target flash area. To e
nable read access for this operation you must modify the descriptor settings to
give host access to this region.
FPT Operation Failed.
I do have a programmer, will need to buy some BIOS chips first to test that it works I thought this would be much easier, then again not sure if soldering a TPM socket on the Z170M-PLUS is more dangerous than ME modding+flash? Maybe just sell the board and get a Gigabyte board with PTT and be done with it?
Just to clarify - after new BIOS chip arrives (seems to be a Winbond 25Q128FV DIP8) - the process is:
1. Save chip contents with programmer
2. Modify this image with Flash Image Tool (enable PTT strap)? Or need to unpack and get ME to modify then pack?
3. Flash this modified image with programmer?
Thanks!
@ cam234:
I don’t understand, why you are waiting for a new chip when you have a programmer and your motherboard has a socketed SPI chip? You can just remove it, read with the programmer and reflash after performing the right FIT configurations. Since it’s a desktop you can mod and flash the file provided by ASUS after removing the AMI Capsule with UEFITool or manually. If there are any mobo settings like MAC address etc, you may be able to transfer them with CodeRush’s tool but I don’t have experience with it and if it’s even updated anymore or if it’s needed at this point.
@plutomaniac
Sorry but for the price of a BIOS chip I’d rather play it safe, it may be very unlikely a save/restore won’t work but “lost” too many things lately so I’m down on my luck ;(
This way I can make a copy of the original chip and play with that one - and just put the original back untouched (bar the save) if things don’t work right.
Just to update - I’m afraid my BIOS chips have not made it but the ASUS TPM (14+1 pin V2 for Skylake) + 2mm header (dual) pins have (go figure?).
So getting a bit frustrated - after breaking a 2x6 pin header and removing 1 pin (14+1) to fit TPM - I finally soldered it (getting the solder from the socket holes was hell - make sure you have a solder suction device) and it does work. TPM 2.0 detected in BIOS, Windows ownership taken and BitLocker engaged. So the socket was wired just ASUS did not include the header for some reason on Z170M-PLUS (!)
The PTT/ME version would have been easier/cheaper/elegant - but this is what turned out (chips, TPM, header all ordered the same time). Sorry. Perhaps if the BIOS finally makes it I may still get crazy enough to remove hardware TPM and try the firmware version - maybe keep the chip for something else
Hi! Can you please explain how to manually update MEI Firmware within the bios file (new 1902 still has "outdated" ME)?
Doesnt it work anymore?
No one?
@KotTHECat
That guide is old and not optimal anymore. Follow this guide, it will do what you want perfectly fine even if technically it’s not meant for updating.
I made a 1902 Hero Alpha BIOS with the 9E Skylake microcode.
(I saw somewhere that HA/H actually share the same BIOS now… but that’s on you if you want to try.)
No other changes.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B64kGV…Q1RuZ3BGeEJZZ1E
Works fine on my board, I claim no responsibility for your motherboard!
If this is not appropriate to post here, I will remove it, just want to share.
Hi everyone. Im new here. I newer try to mod BIOS becouse I’m start to learn it.
Can some one mod BIOS 1902 for Maximus VIII Ranger and paste link?
Now I try to flash older version from previus site but cant flash with EZ FLASH. I use external programmer but not working to. How program it?
EDIT
OK, I found how to flash with flashback.
EDIT2
My first mod - update RAIDRIVER and success 
Now I want tu update ME but I’m not sure with is for Maximus VIII Ranger. Can you show me correct?
Where I find microcode for Skylake?
Hi I am new to all of this, what is the purpose of this modded BIOS? What do these modded modules give you in terms of capability over the stock ASUS Bios?
Hi Sylar76,
I’m wondering if you could modify the latest Maximus Hero VIII bios, that is 2202 version, but modify it only to import the RAM and XMP support from bios 1701 to that 2202 version. I’m being this specific because there seems to be a problem with XMP detection an appliance on bioses released since 1701, and several models of ram won’t work anymore. Many users complained to ASUS but they still do not release a fix for this. Could you do this? Thanks for your time.